The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired Nolan Arenado in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, the teams announced Tuesday.
Arenado is heading to Arizona along with cash considerations for 22-year-old right-hander Jack Martinez, who was selected in the eighth round of the 2025 MLB Draft. According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, the Diamondbacks will pay $11 million of the $42 million left on the third baseman’s contract over the next two seasons, with the Cardinals picking up the remaining $31 million.
Arenado, who will turn 35 in April, had spent the past five seasons with the Cardinals after playing the first nine years of his career with the Colorado Rockies. The 10-time Gold Glove third baseman and eight-time NL All-Star had to waive his no-trade clause in order for the deal to happen and reportedly expanded the list of teams he’d be open to moving to.
Thank you, Nolan, for countless unbelievable plays and your leadership on and off the field. Best of luck in Arizona! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/H6w4kkSitv
Arenado moving on ends a year-long saga of the Cardinals trying to trade him. In December 2024, the five-time Silver Slugger Award winner reportedly blocked a deal that would have sent him to the Houston Astros. Both sides have been working toward this result with Arenado’s agent saying that same month the player would be open to moving positions to help facilitate a trade “if it’s the right place to go.”
Arenado will now join a Diamondbacks infield that features Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop and second baseman Ketel Marte, who was recently taken off the trade market.
A right shoulder strain kept Arenado out six weeks and limited him to 107 games last season. He finished with a .237 batting average, 12 home runs and 52 RBI in 401 at-bats. Those numbers were among his lowest over the course of a full season since he broke into the majors in 2013.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired Nolan Arenado in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, the teams announced Tuesday.
Arenado is heading to Arizona along with cash considerations for 22-year-old right-hander Jack Martinez, who was selected in the eighth round of the 2025 MLB Draft. According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, the Diamondbacks will pay $11 million of the $42 million left on the third baseman’s contract over the next two seasons, with the Cardinals picking up the remaining $31 million.
Arenado, who will turn 35 in April, had spent the past five seasons with the Cardinals after playing the first nine years of his career with the Colorado Rockies. The 10-time Gold Glove third baseman and eight-time NL All-Star had to waive his no-trade clause in order for the deal to happen and reportedly expanded the list of teams he’d be open to moving to.
Thank you, Nolan, for countless unbelievable plays and your leadership on and off the field. Best of luck in Arizona! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/H6w4kkSitv
Arenado moving on ends a year-long saga of the Cardinals trying to trade him. In December 2024, the five-time Silver Slugger Award winner reportedly blocked a deal that would have sent him to the Houston Astros. Both sides have been working toward this result with Arenado’s agent saying that same month the player would be open to moving positions to help facilitate a trade “if it’s the right place to go.”
Arenado will now join a Diamondbacks infield that features Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop and second baseman Ketel Marte, who was recently taken off the trade market.
A right shoulder strain kept Arenado out six weeks and limited him to 107 games last season. He finished with a .237 batting average, 12 home runs and 52 RBI in 401 at-bats. Those numbers were among his lowest over the course of a full season since he broke into the majors in 2013.
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When a team beats you three times in two weeks, you kind of have to tip your cap to them. So that’s exactly what the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player did.
“We have to get better, as a group,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters after the Spurs vanquished his Thunder on Christmas Day — San Antonio’s third consecutive victory over the defending NBA champions. “You don’t lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you. So we have to get better. We have to look in the mirror. And that’s everybody, from top to bottom, if we want to reach our ultimate goal.”
Oklahoma City might not necessarily love what it’s seen in the mirror over the past few weeks — a reflection decidedly more mortal than the nearly unmarked visage that had opened its title defense with 24 wins in 25 tries. But after winning three straight to enter Tuesday’s highly anticipated rematch with the Spurs atop the West at 33-7, the Thunder have the opportunity to show what they’ve taken from those bracing defeats at the hands of their conference rival — the lessons they’ve learned about themselves and what’s proven to be an awfully worthy adversary.
“We’ve got to win — just like every other night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Sunday’s win over the Heat. “You wake up and you want to win a basketball game. That’s obviously a very good team who’s gotten the better of us recently.”
But why, exactly, has San Antonio been so successful against a Thunder team that’s won nearly 90% of its games against the rest of the NBA? Let’s take a look at three reasons why the Spurs have proven a particularly difficult matchup for Oklahoma City — starting with the literal and figurative biggest one:
The Spurs have Victor Wembanyama, who is huge and good
The Spurs and Thunder have shared the floor for 144 minutes across three games this season. In the 70 minutes that Wembanyama has played, San Antonio has outscored Oklahoma City by 47 points; in the 74 that he’s sat, the Thunder are plus-10. Sometimes, the explanation is as easy to see as the 7-foot-4 monument striding imperiously around the court.
Before these two teams squared off in the NBA Cup semifinals, I wrote this: “Hardly anybody has made Oklahoma City feel uncomfortable throughout its historic rampage to a 24-1 record. Well, a 7-foot-whatever ambulatory eclipse has a way of unsettling an offense: Just 27.2% of San Antonio opponents’ shot attempts have come at the basket with Wembanyama on the floor, which would be the second-lowest mark in the NBA over the course of the season.”
Narrow the aperture down to just the minutes when Wembanyama’s been on the floor, stalking menacingly around the half-court, and that plunges to 33.3 points-per-100 in the paint — galactically, laughably below the least potent interior attacks in the league. The Thunder have shot a dismal 35.7% from the field in Wembanyama’s floor time, with 19 turnovers against 24 assists.
Perhaps the loudest thing about the impact Wembanyama makes, though, is how quiet the Thunder are around the basket. Oklahoma City has attempted just four shots at the rim with Wemby as the nearest defender in 70 minutes of floor time, according to Second Spectrum. Sometimes, dominance looks like a would-be layup pinned against the glass or tossed into the 10th row. Sometimes, though, it looks like one of the highest-volume and highest-scoring driving teams in the NBA repeatedly deciding to get out of a kitchen that’s too damn hot, resulting in a steady stream of 3-point shots by players — chiefly Alex Caruso, Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace — you’d much rather see hoisting than SGA:
That, as my podcast partner Tom Haberstroh noted, is the Wemby Effect: the ability to set, determine and enforce the terms of engagement against an offense that consistently generates points at an elite level against damn near everybody else. And yes, if Caruso, Dort and Wallace make those frequently wide-open shots they’re getting served up, then you probably lose. When they go a combined 13-for-51 (25.5%) from long distance, though? You probably don’t.
The Spurs’ defensive success against the Thunder isn’t only about Big Vic — the Spurs’ excellent positional size on the wing (headlined by the 6-6 Castle matching up damn nearly perfectly with SGA) allows them to switch assignments along the perimeter, limiting driving opportunities and forcing OKC to grind out possessions without a clear advantage created up top — but ultimately, it all comes back to the big fella. Oklahoma City scores 118 points per 100 possessions against the league at large; against Wembanyama, that free-falls to 88.9 points-per-100.
… and you’ve got the sort of game-breaker capable of fundamentally dislocating even the best team in the NBA.
The Spurs don’t turn the ball over
As much as anything besides SGA’s drives to the basket, this era of Oklahoma City basketball has been defined by an ability to generate mistakes. (Well, if you’re Chris Finch, maybe it’s by how much they foul. To-may-to, to-mah-to.)
This is the theory on which the Thunder’s defense rests. Deploy demons like Dort, Wallace and Caruso to harass and harangue opposing ball-handlers all over the floor; watch as the collective ball pressure bursts the offense’s pipes; pick up the loose change and deposit it at the other end; lather, rinse, repeat.
As you’ve probably noticed over the past few seasons, it’s been a wildly profitable approach. In this matchup, though — against a Spurs team that has the fourth-lowest turnover rate in the NBA — it hasn’t.
This, in part, is the theory on which the Spurs’ offense rests this season. Deploy three top-shelf facilitators: a bona fide All-Star/All-NBA-caliber lead guard in De’Aaron Fox; a rising star in sophomore phenom Stephon Castle; and Dylan Harper, the second pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, who’s near the top of the leaderboard in assist-to-turnover ratio among rookies (and top-15 among all reserve guards). Trust them to steer professionally and confidently through traffic, consistently touch the paint and distribute the playmaking responsibilities widely enough that OKC’s pressure can’t break anything:
Head coach Mitch Johnson has kept at least two of Fox, Castle and Harper on the floor for 121 of the 144 minutes the Spurs have played against the Thunder this season, according to PBP Stats — ensuring that he’s got multiple high-level ball-handlers on the floor at nearly all times. It’s paid off: San Antonio has committed just 41 turnovers across those 144 minutes, good for a 12.3% turnover rate — which would be the second-lowest rate in the NBA over the course of the full season, just behind the Thunder themselves.
(Also quietly big in this matchup? The forward trio of Harrison Barnes, Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagnie, which firmly understands its collective assignment: If you’ve got the shot, let it fly; if there’s a gap, drive it hard; if there’s not, keep the ball moving.)
Without its customary diet of opportunities to scoop up a live-ball turnover and take it the other way, Oklahoma City has scored 16.3 points per game off turnovers against the Spurs; that would rank 26th in the NBA for the season, and is nearly nine points per game below the Thunder’s season average. Remove that superpower, and you’ve done the bulk of the work in making the champs look mortal.
The Spurs make you play Whac-A-Mole
Here’s a fun one: The Spurs are 3-0 against the Thunder despite their supernatural, extraterrestrial best player not leading them in scoring in any of the three wins.
In the NBA Cup semifinals, it was Devin Vassell (who’ll miss Tuesday’s tilt with the left adductor strain that’s cost him the last seven games) who led four Spurs in double figures with 23 points.
In the Dec. 23 win, it was Johnson, who drilled five 3-pointers on his way to 25 points in 22 minutes off the bench.
On Christmas Day, it was Fox, keeping the ball and the OKC defense on a string, alternately splashing jumpers and slicing to the rack for a game-high 29.
And the Spurs’ leading scorer overall against the Thunder? That’d be Castle, averaging 21.7 points per game while shooting a scorching 61.5% from the field, 46.2% from 3-point range and 84.6% from the foul line:
The Spurs’ ball-handlers and wings are big, long and strong enough to play through the physicality of Oklahoma City’s armada of maulers. Their drivers have absolutely no compunction about taking the ball straight into the chests of Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein or anyone else in a Thunder jersey who might be waiting for them at the rim. And their fast-paced offensive style — tied for 13th in seconds per touch, ninth in dribbles per touch, tied for eighth in average time to shot, about 22 more passes per game than OKC — both prioritizes and rewards sharing.
The Thunder have arguably the best isolation player in the world, but if you can load up on Gilgeous-Alexander and force somebody else to try to beat you, they can be had — especially with All-NBA No. 2 option Jalen Williams continuing to work his way back from offseason surgery to his shooting wrist. With the Spurs, if you lean too far into taking one option away, a handful of others will be waiting to make you pay.
“What matters is to press where it hurts on the defense,” Wembanyama told reporters after the Christmas Day win.
The Spurs have done that more effectively than any other team in the NBA this season. If they can do it again on Tuesday, they’ll cement themselves as an eminently credible threat to do what nobody was able to do last spring: beat Oklahoma City four times in a seven-game series.
“Just like anybody would be, and just like we would be if they had beaten us three times — maybe they’re going to be pissed off, but they’re already a good team before getting pissed off,” Wembanyama told reporters . “[…] It’s going to be a good challenge to go there again. I know we’re ready.”
When a team beats you three times in two weeks, you kind of have to tip your cap to them. So that’s exactly what the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player did.
“We have to get better, as a group,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters after the Spurs vanquished his Thunder on Christmas Day — San Antonio’s third consecutive victory over the defending NBA champions. “You don’t lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you. So we have to get better. We have to look in the mirror. And that’s everybody, from top to bottom, if we want to reach our ultimate goal.”
Oklahoma City might not necessarily love what it’s seen in the mirror over the past few weeks — a reflection decidedly more mortal than the nearly unmarked visage that had opened its title defense with 24 wins in 25 tries. But after winning three straight to enter Tuesday’s highly anticipated rematch with the Spurs atop the West at 33-7, the Thunder have the opportunity to show what they’ve taken from those bracing defeats at the hands of their conference rival — the lessons they’ve learned about themselves and what’s proven to be an awfully worthy adversary.
“We’ve got to win — just like every other night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Sunday’s win over the Heat. “You wake up and you want to win a basketball game. That’s obviously a very good team who’s gotten the better of us recently.”
But why, exactly, has San Antonio been so successful against a Thunder team that’s won nearly 90% of its games against the rest of the NBA? Let’s take a look at three reasons why the Spurs have proven a particularly difficult matchup for Oklahoma City — starting with the literal and figurative biggest one:
The Spurs have Victor Wembanyama, who is huge and good
The Spurs and Thunder have shared the floor for 144 minutes across three games this season. In the 70 minutes that Wembanyama has played, San Antonio has outscored Oklahoma City by 47 points; in the 74 that he’s sat, the Thunder are plus-10. Sometimes, the explanation is as easy to see as the 7-foot-4 monument striding imperiously around the court.
Before these two teams squared off in the NBA Cup semifinals, I wrote this: “Hardly anybody has made Oklahoma City feel uncomfortable throughout its historic rampage to a 24-1 record. Well, a 7-foot-whatever ambulatory eclipse has a way of unsettling an offense: Just 27.2% of San Antonio opponents’ shot attempts have come at the basket with Wembanyama on the floor, which would be the second-lowest mark in the NBA over the course of the season.”
Narrow the aperture down to just the minutes when Wembanyama’s been on the floor, stalking menacingly around the half-court, and that plunges to 33.3 points-per-100 in the paint — galactically, laughably below the least potent interior attacks in the league. The Thunder have shot a dismal 35.7% from the field in Wembanyama’s floor time, with 19 turnovers against 24 assists.
Perhaps the loudest thing about the impact Wembanyama makes, though, is how quiet the Thunder are around the basket. Oklahoma City has attempted just four shots at the rim with Wemby as the nearest defender in 70 minutes of floor time, according to Second Spectrum. Sometimes, dominance looks like a would-be layup pinned against the glass or tossed into the 10th row. Sometimes, though, it looks like one of the highest-volume and highest-scoring driving teams in the NBA repeatedly deciding to get out of a kitchen that’s too damn hot, resulting in a steady stream of 3-point shots by players — chiefly Alex Caruso, Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace — you’d much rather see hoisting than SGA:
That, as my podcast partner Tom Haberstroh noted, is the Wemby Effect: the ability to set, determine and enforce the terms of engagement against an offense that consistently generates points at an elite level against damn near everybody else. And yes, if Caruso, Dort and Wallace make those frequently wide-open shots they’re getting served up, then you probably lose. When they go a combined 13-for-51 (25.5%) from long distance, though? You probably don’t.
The Spurs’ defensive success against the Thunder isn’t only about Big Vic — the Spurs’ excellent positional size on the wing (headlined by the 6-6 Castle matching up damn nearly perfectly with SGA) allows them to switch assignments along the perimeter, limiting driving opportunities and forcing OKC to grind out possessions without a clear advantage created up top — but ultimately, it all comes back to the big fella. Oklahoma City scores 118 points per 100 possessions against the league at large; against Wembanyama, that free-falls to 88.9 points-per-100.
… and you’ve got the sort of game-breaker capable of fundamentally dislocating even the best team in the NBA.
The Spurs don’t turn the ball over
As much as anything besides SGA’s drives to the basket, this era of Oklahoma City basketball has been defined by an ability to generate mistakes. (Well, if you’re Chris Finch, maybe it’s by how much they foul. To-may-to, to-mah-to.)
This is the theory on which the Thunder’s defense rests. Deploy demons like Dort, Wallace and Caruso to harass and harangue opposing ball-handlers all over the floor; watch as the collective ball pressure bursts the offense’s pipes; pick up the loose change and deposit it at the other end; lather, rinse, repeat.
As you’ve probably noticed over the past few seasons, it’s been a wildly profitable approach. In this matchup, though — against a Spurs team that has the fourth-lowest turnover rate in the NBA — it hasn’t.
This, in part, is the theory on which the Spurs’ offense rests this season. Deploy three top-shelf facilitators: a bona fide All-Star/All-NBA-caliber lead guard in De’Aaron Fox; a rising star in sophomore phenom Stephon Castle; and Dylan Harper, the second pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, who’s near the top of the leaderboard in assist-to-turnover ratio among rookies (and top-15 among all reserve guards). Trust them to steer professionally and confidently through traffic, consistently touch the paint and distribute the playmaking responsibilities widely enough that OKC’s pressure can’t break anything:
Head coach Mitch Johnson has kept at least two of Fox, Castle and Harper on the floor for 121 of the 144 minutes the Spurs have played against the Thunder this season, according to PBP Stats — ensuring that he’s got multiple high-level ball-handlers on the floor at nearly all times. It’s paid off: San Antonio has committed just 41 turnovers across those 144 minutes, good for a 12.3% turnover rate — which would be the second-lowest rate in the NBA over the course of the full season, just behind the Thunder themselves.
(Also quietly big in this matchup? The forward trio of Harrison Barnes, Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagnie, which firmly understands its collective assignment: If you’ve got the shot, let it fly; if there’s a gap, drive it hard; if there’s not, keep the ball moving.)
Without its customary diet of opportunities to scoop up a live-ball turnover and take it the other way, Oklahoma City has scored 16.3 points per game off turnovers against the Spurs; that would rank 26th in the NBA for the season, and is nearly nine points per game below the Thunder’s season average. Remove that superpower, and you’ve done the bulk of the work in making the champs look mortal.
The Spurs make you play Whac-A-Mole
Here’s a fun one: The Spurs are 3-0 against the Thunder despite their supernatural, extraterrestrial best player not leading them in scoring in any of the three wins.
In the NBA Cup semifinals, it was Devin Vassell (who’ll miss Tuesday’s tilt with the left adductor strain that’s cost him the last seven games) who led four Spurs in double figures with 23 points.
In the Dec. 23 win, it was Johnson, who drilled five 3-pointers on his way to 25 points in 22 minutes off the bench.
On Christmas Day, it was Fox, keeping the ball and the OKC defense on a string, alternately splashing jumpers and slicing to the rack for a game-high 29.
And the Spurs’ leading scorer overall against the Thunder? That’d be Castle, averaging 21.7 points per game while shooting a scorching 61.5% from the field, 46.2% from 3-point range and 84.6% from the foul line:
The Spurs’ ball-handlers and wings are big, long and strong enough to play through the physicality of Oklahoma City’s armada of maulers. Their drivers have absolutely no compunction about taking the ball straight into the chests of Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein or anyone else in a Thunder jersey who might be waiting for them at the rim. And their fast-paced offensive style — tied for 13th in seconds per touch, ninth in dribbles per touch, tied for eighth in average time to shot, about 22 more passes per game than OKC — both prioritizes and rewards sharing.
The Thunder have arguably the best isolation player in the world, but if you can load up on Gilgeous-Alexander and force somebody else to try to beat you, they can be had — especially with All-NBA No. 2 option Jalen Williams continuing to work his way back from offseason surgery to his shooting wrist. With the Spurs, if you lean too far into taking one option away, a handful of others will be waiting to make you pay.
“What matters is to press where it hurts on the defense,” Wembanyama told reporters after the Christmas Day win.
The Spurs have done that more effectively than any other team in the NBA this season. If they can do it again on Tuesday, they’ll cement themselves as an eminently credible threat to do what nobody was able to do last spring: beat Oklahoma City four times in a seven-game series.
“Just like anybody would be, and just like we would be if they had beaten us three times — maybe they’re going to be pissed off, but they’re already a good team before getting pissed off,” Wembanyama told reporters . “[…] It’s going to be a good challenge to go there again. I know we’re ready.”
The midway point of the NBA season is almost here, as most teams have played close to 41 games, and some have already hit that mark.
Even with season-long data available, we will focus on the here and now. Which players are on the rise? Which ones are trending in the wrong direction? Let’s discuss.
→ Watch the NBA Coast 2 Coast Tuesday on NBC and Peacock, as the Thunder take on the Spurs in a marquee Western Conference matchup at 8 p.m. before the Trail Blazers visit the Warriors at 11 p.m. ET. Both games are available
Before his three-point, five-rebound outing against the Hornets on Monday, Collins had a season-best performance against the Pistons in which he added 25 points, seven rebounds, four steals, four blocks, and five three-pointers. The dominant showing included several season highs and was part of a five-game stretch in which the veteran forward had averaged 19.8 points, 3.2 three-pointers, and 2.2 blocks per game. Collins’ uptick in production is massive for the Clippers, who traded away Norman Powell this past offseason to bring him over from Utah, and as he continues to play well and have a positive impact on the Clippers’ recent strong play, he should keep seeing opportunities to play an important role and provide fantasy production.
Naji Marshall — SF/PF, Mavericks
There’s been a lot of discourse surrounding the Mavericks, but probably not enough about Naji Marshall and his sustained production. He’s quietly had a productive season and has put up some particularly nice numbers of late — Marshall has scored 15 or more points and also collected multiple steals in three of his last four appearances and is coming off one of his most balanced performances of the season, tallying a 22/4/9/3/1 line in Monday’s win over the Nets. With Anthony Davis sidelined, it’s reasonable to expect that Marshall fills a lot of those open power forward minutes. His fantasy value will be even higher in games that P.J. Washington is also unavailable for. Marshall is rostered in only 24 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
LaMelo Ball — PG/SG, Hornets
Ball came off the bench for the first time in years in a recent game against the Pacers and proceeded to take his game to a greater level. The superstar point guard scored 33 points, dished out eight assists, and collected three steals in the much-talked-about recent game against the Pacers, but moved back into the starting lineup stating lineup a game later to tally a nice 17/5/5 line in just 23 minutes of a 55-point win over the Jazz, before heading to his hometown to give the Clippers 25 points and a near-double-double. He’s also drilled 15 three-pointers over the last three games and tallied 5.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game over that span. Ball is currently in a nice rhythm that will hopefully sustain throughout the rest of the fantasy basketball season.
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STOCK DOWN
Jaden Ivey — SG/SF, Pistons
The return from offseason knee surgery and a 2024-25 season-ending leg injury has not gone as planned for Ivey, who is searching for a consistent role and success on a Pistons team rostered with several impactful backcourt players. Even with Cade Cunningham missing Saturday’s loss to the Clippers, Ivey only found his way to 20 minutes, totaling eight points and three rebounds. He’s averaging 8.2 points and 1.6 assists on 40.5/11.8/83.3 shooting splits through five games during January and has shot 50 percent from the floor and scored in double figures in just one of those five games. It’s hard to predict when or how a corner is turned, but things certainly aren’t trending in the right direction for such a talented player.
Ace Bailey — SG/SF, Jazz
Rookie seasons often are filled with ups and downs. For Bailey, he’s in the midst of one of the “down” periods. His stock was rising after a four-game December stretch that saw him average 15.0 points and 2.3 three-pointers, but ended in the fifth game when a hip injury against the Pistons limited him to 11 minutes, and cost him to miss five straight contests. Bailey has returned and played in two of the last four games, but combined for only six total points in 25 minutes. How long does the injury linger? When does he reclaim his former role in the rotation? These are questions we’ll have to wait to get answers for. But hopefully, the young and promising player can get back on track soon.
Dylan Harper — PG/SG, Spurs
Harper’s rookie season has also featured several twists and turns, with a timeline that saw him start the season strongly before getting injured, then return and eventually succeed in his role off the bench, and now struggle to find consistent production. He went scoreless with one rebound, one assist, and one steal in the Spurs’ most recent game against the Timberwolves, and had only totaled 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists on 7-of-32 shooting in the four prior games. Harper is in a tricky spot off the bench playing behind two high-minute guards in De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle. Yet he’s proven earlier in the season to be a productive, difference-making player regardless. He’ll have to find his way, once again, to get out of this slump.
Three years ago, Ja Morant was the most electric guard the NBA had seen since Allen Iverson and the Grizzlies seemed like the NBA’s next great contender. But after a bizarre string of gun incidents and a long list of injuries, Ja is now a distressed asset being discussed like an albatross contract, not a franchise cornerstone.
But what is Morant actually worth? That’s the big question with ]
NBA sources don’t expect Morant’s market to be too much different than it was for Trae Young, who was dealt to the Wizards for just an expiring contract in CJ McCollum and a solid role player in Corey Kispert. But the Hawks preferred short-term or expiring deals. Memphis is taking the opposite approach: Executives around the league say the Grizzlies are signaling a willingness to take on bad contracts, if it means being compensated with young players or picks. But the Grizzlies aren’t going to get that much for Morant. Think pick swaps, not unprotected firsts. Think moderate bets on rookie contracts, not exciting young players. Even getting those assets might require Memphis to take on bad money in return.
There are only three kinds of Ja buyers: stuck-in-the-middle teams hunting a shortcut, desperate franchises and gamblers that think their structure can fix any talent. With that in mind, here are six trade ideas:
Why they do it: The Kings are stuck in the mud and they know it. And they need a star. Plus, they’re so early in their rebuild that they can afford to whiff. If they hit a home run they’ll look like geniuses for getting Ja for so cheap. Who knows? Morant could benefit from being around a guy like Russell Westbrook. Maybe it’s worth it for SacTown.
Why they don’t: Swapping out an old veteran who shows up for a young veteran who often doesn’t may not be the best way to build culture. And though Carter has struggled so far in his career, he’s still only in his second year — just like Tyrese Haliburton was when he got dealt. Giving up Carter, and any future draft capital, could simply end up a loss on a risky investment.
Why they do it: Phoenix is 29th in at-rim frequency. The team needs someone who can actually collapse a defense. Ja played his best ball next to Dillon Brooks, and Brooks is currently the heart of this surging Suns team. Maybe he’d help him tap into a new chapter of his prime again.
Why they don’t: Green is younger and cheaper, and for a team that’s already short on assets it may not make any sense to give up on any unless it’s more of a sure thing.
Morant and Dillon Brooks were teammates in Memphis. Could they reunite in Phoenix? (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
NBAE via Getty Images
Raptors get: Ja Morant
Grizzlies get: Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick, one first-round pick swap
Why they do it: The Raptors were already in on the Trae Young sweepstakes, so maybe they’d be willing to go for Morant too. They’re in need of another creator to take the pressure off Scottie Barnes. The Kawhi Leonard swing also showed this franchise will rent volatility if the upside is real.
Why they don’t: The fit is a disaster. The best version of Ja lives in the paint. But so does Scottie. Neither is a knockdown shooter. Trae made some sense because of his perimeter-oriented game, but Morant doesn’t.
Bucks get: Ja Morant
Grizzlies get: Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis, two first-round pick swaps
Why they do it: The Giannis Antetokounmpo era might have four months left. Adding Ja is the ultimate Hail Mary to convince Giannis that they are still trying to win. And if Ja does return to form, this could be the gamble that pays off and gives Giannis a teammate who can actually generate any offense.
Why they don’t: You’re trading for a shaky shooter who has played in only 38% of his games over the last three seasons. If Giannis leaves anyway, you’re stuck paying Ja to lead a 20-win team in an empty arena.
Heat get: Ja Morant
Grizzlies get: Terry Rozier, Simone Fontecchio, two first-round pick swaps
Why they do it: This is Pat Riley saying “I can fix him.” They ship out Rozier’s expiring contract and gambling-investigation headache for a guy who was All-NBA just a few years ago.
Why they don’t: Sending a guy with Morant’s habits to South Beach seems like a horrible idea. Plus, the Heat run an offense influenced by Noah LaRoche, the same guy who inspired the no-screens offense that Ja hated and led to the Grizzlies coaching staff getting fired less than one year ago.
Wolves get: Ja Morant, Jock Landale, Scotty Pippen, Vincent Williams
Grizzlies get: Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo, Mike Conley, Joan Beringer, 2032 swap
Why they do it: As Andrew Sharp said on my podcast: This trade is “the best construction of what might still be a bad idea.” You raise your ceiling with Morant, Pippen as a versatile guard, Landale as a hard-nosed big man, and Williams as a versatile wing. This is a gamble that Ja can return close to form, but also a reshuffling of the supporting cast around the big three of Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.
Why they don’t: Ja’s salary would require a big shake-up to the roster to make any deal work financially. Chemistry could collapse midseason. Plus, Morant could step on Ant’s toes. Edwards would ideally have a co-star in the backcourt that can thrive without the ball, like Conley and DiVincenzo do. So rather than bet the whole franchise on Ja’s availability, a bet that has failed for three years running, going for just Pippen or another mid-level point guard who can shoot could be far more sensible.
You can talk yourself into other teams as a Ja suitor. Maybe the Nets just want to take the risk. Maybe the Cavs want a shake-up from Darius Garland. Maybe the Bulls want to replace Coby White. But it’s a lot easier to talk yourself out of Morant for any of these aforementioned teams, given the way his career has unfolded and where it appears likely to go from here.
History is littered with these types of “distressed asset” superstars. Most of them aren’t still just 26 years old though. But Morant’s story is starting to feel like the speed-run version of the Iverson career arc. Once A.I. was traded from Denver to Detroit at age 33, it was suddenly apparent that it was already over. Small guards can hit a cliff fast when the body begins to fail. So even if there’s a chance Ja has more left in the tank, there’s a far higher probability that the team trading for him is just taking a massive loss on the investment.
Some fixer-uppers are worth the risk, though. The Bucks might be that desperate. The Heat might be that confident. The Wolves might be that ballsy. All it takes is one owner to think he’s getting a franchise-changing asset for 12 cents on the dollar and ignore the possibility that Ja may have already hit the Iverson-in-Detroit phase.
Three years ago, Ja Morant was the most electric guard the NBA had seen since Allen Iverson and the Grizzlies seemed like the NBA’s next great contender. But after a bizarre string of gun incidents and a long list of injuries, Ja is now a distressed asset being discussed like an albatross contract, not a franchise cornerstone.
But what is Morant actually worth? That’s the big question with ]
NBA sources don’t expect Morant’s market to be too much different than it was for Trae Young, who was dealt to the Wizards for just an expiring contract in CJ McCollum and a solid role player in Corey Kispert. But the Hawks preferred short-term or expiring deals. Memphis is taking the opposite approach: Executives around the league say the Grizzlies are signaling a willingness to take on bad contracts, if it means being compensated with young players or picks. But the Grizzlies aren’t going to get that much for Morant. Think pick swaps, not unprotected firsts. Think moderate bets on rookie contracts, not exciting young players. Even getting those assets might require Memphis to take on bad money in return.
There are only three kinds of Ja buyers: stuck-in-the-middle teams hunting a shortcut, desperate franchises and gamblers that think their structure can fix any talent. With that in mind, here are six trade ideas:
Why they do it: The Kings are stuck in the mud and they know it. And they need a star. Plus, they’re so early in their rebuild that they can afford to whiff. If they hit a home run they’ll look like geniuses for getting Ja for so cheap. Who knows? Morant could benefit from being around a guy like Russell Westbrook. Maybe it’s worth it for SacTown.
Why they don’t: Swapping out an old veteran who shows up for a young veteran who often doesn’t may not be the best way to build culture. And though Carter has struggled so far in his career, he’s still only in his second year — just like Tyrese Haliburton was when he got dealt. Giving up Carter, and any future draft capital, could simply end up a loss on a risky investment.
Why they do it: Phoenix is 29th in at-rim frequency. The team needs someone who can actually collapse a defense. Ja played his best ball next to Dillon Brooks, and Brooks is currently the heart of this surging Suns team. Maybe he’d help him tap into a new chapter of his prime again.
Why they don’t: Green is younger and cheaper, and for a team that’s already short on assets it may not make any sense to give up on any unless it’s more of a sure thing.
Morant and Dillon Brooks were teammates in Memphis. Could they reunite in Phoenix? (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
NBAE via Getty Images
Raptors get: Ja Morant
Grizzlies get: Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick, one first-round pick swap
Why they do it: The Raptors were already in on the Trae Young sweepstakes, so maybe they’d be willing to go for Morant too. They’re in need of another creator to take the pressure off Scottie Barnes. The Kawhi Leonard swing also showed this franchise will rent volatility if the upside is real.
Why they don’t: The fit is a disaster. The best version of Ja lives in the paint. But so does Scottie. Neither is a knockdown shooter. Trae made some sense because of his perimeter-oriented game, but Morant doesn’t.
Bucks get: Ja Morant
Grizzlies get: Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis, two first-round pick swaps
Why they do it: The Giannis Antetokounmpo era might have four months left. Adding Ja is the ultimate Hail Mary to convince Giannis that they are still trying to win. And if Ja does return to form, this could be the gamble that pays off and gives Giannis a teammate who can actually generate any offense.
Why they don’t: You’re trading for a shaky shooter who has played in only 38% of his games over the last three seasons. If Giannis leaves anyway, you’re stuck paying Ja to lead a 20-win team in an empty arena.
Heat get: Ja Morant
Grizzlies get: Terry Rozier, Simone Fontecchio, two first-round pick swaps
Why they do it: This is Pat Riley saying “I can fix him.” They ship out Rozier’s expiring contract and gambling-investigation headache for a guy who was All-NBA just a few years ago.
Why they don’t: Sending a guy with Morant’s habits to South Beach seems like a horrible idea. Plus, the Heat run an offense influenced by Noah LaRoche, the same guy who inspired the no-screens offense that Ja hated and led to the Grizzlies coaching staff getting fired less than one year ago.
Wolves get: Ja Morant, Jock Landale, Scotty Pippen, Vincent Williams
Grizzlies get: Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo, Mike Conley, Joan Beringer, 2032 swap
Why they do it: As Andrew Sharp said on my podcast: This trade is “the best construction of what might still be a bad idea.” You raise your ceiling with Morant, Pippen as a versatile guard, Landale as a hard-nosed big man, and Williams as a versatile wing. This is a gamble that Ja can return close to form, but also a reshuffling of the supporting cast around the big three of Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.
Why they don’t: Ja’s salary would require a big shake-up to the roster to make any deal work financially. Chemistry could collapse midseason. Plus, Morant could step on Ant’s toes. Edwards would ideally have a co-star in the backcourt that can thrive without the ball, like Conley and DiVincenzo do. So rather than bet the whole franchise on Ja’s availability, a bet that has failed for three years running, going for just Pippen or another mid-level point guard who can shoot could be far more sensible.
You can talk yourself into other teams as a Ja suitor. Maybe the Nets just want to take the risk. Maybe the Cavs want a shake-up from Darius Garland. Maybe the Bulls want to replace Coby White. But it’s a lot easier to talk yourself out of Morant for any of these aforementioned teams, given the way his career has unfolded and where it appears likely to go from here.
History is littered with these types of “distressed asset” superstars. Most of them aren’t still just 26 years old though. But Morant’s story is starting to feel like the speed-run version of the Iverson career arc. Once A.I. was traded from Denver to Detroit at age 33, it was suddenly apparent that it was already over. Small guards can hit a cliff fast when the body begins to fail. So even if there’s a chance Ja has more left in the tank, there’s a far higher probability that the team trading for him is just taking a massive loss on the investment.
Some fixer-uppers are worth the risk, though. The Bucks might be that desperate. The Heat might be that confident. The Wolves might be that ballsy. All it takes is one owner to think he’s getting a franchise-changing asset for 12 cents on the dollar and ignore the possibility that Ja may have already hit the Iverson-in-Detroit phase.
